A judge in New York has rejected a motion that was filed by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former International Monetary Fund chief, which asked for the lawsuit against him to be dismissed. The lawsuit was filed against him by a hotel maid who claims he sexually assaulted her. The judge is permitting the suit to continue. The judge who rejected the motion was Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon. The argument made by Strauss-Kahn said that he had diplomatic immunity during the incident, which took place on May 14 with Nafissatou Diallo. Diallo was working as a maid at Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan. Strauss-Kahn has been accused of forcing Diallo to perform oral sex on him while he claims the incident was consensual.
Days after his arrest, Strauss-Kahn resigned from the IMF, which also ended his plans to seek the presidency in France. In August, the criminal case against Strauss-Kahn was dropped by prosecutors in New York. They said that they were not convinced anymore that Diallo was credible after she changed her story a couple of times regarding what she did immediately following the alleged assault.
“Confronted with well-stated law that his voluntary resignation from the IMF terminated any immunity which he enjoyed … Mr. Strauss-Khan, threw (legally speaking that is) his own version of a Hail Mary pass,” Judge Douglas McKeon wrote.
“Mr. Strauss-Kahn cannot eschew immunity in an effort to clear his name only to embrace it now in an effort to deny Ms. Diallo the opportunity to clear hers,” McKeon wrote.